Monday, August 18, 2008

Family Reading Challenge, Week 6

So, how are YOU doing with reading to your children as summer comes to a close? This week was a bit of a challenge for us. My little one is transitioning to the toddler room in day care, and all of the new activities and bigger kids wore her out. A few days, she was NOT tolerating being read to and only wanted to sleep. So, I guess the one thing I've learned is that "forcing" reading on a child is not ever going to work. It should definitely be a pleasant experience for everyone, and there are just some days when you're too tired or your kids are too tired to read.

That said, if you make reading part of your regular routine, even if not daily, I really do think that kids will develop an appreciation and love for reading. While my daughter didn't want to read over the week, this weekend she was constantly bringing me books, sitting in my lap, and saying, "Bu, Bu." (Book) She's at the stage where she can name objects, and it's so fun to see how much she's starting to pick up. Last night, we were reading a book that had pictures of animals. When we got to the page with the monkeys, she scratched the top of her head and said, "Ah Ah." Her daddy likes to pretend to be a monkey, and apparently his impersonation is pretty realistic. :)

These are the moments for me that make reading special: laughing, learning, and spending time together. When they're filled with frustration (grumpy toddlers, grumpy mommies), it's really not worth it, so I'm slowly learning to choose moments when we're ALL into reading. Hey...maybe I'm getting the hang of this parenting thing! :)

This Week's Winner

So, this week I decided to do another "grab bag" of books. This time, my daughter chose five books from the shelf.

Congratulations! Ignoramoose, please email your mailing address to thewellreadchild AT gmail DOT com, and I'll get the books out to you ASAP.

Next Week's Giveaway

Because the fall is going to be extremely busy, I'm wrapping up the family reading challenge for the summer. Our last giveaway will be held on August 31, but I'll hold random giveaways throughout the fall. There are still two weeks left, and next week, I'm going to do the grab-bag thing again, only this time, I will give the winner a list of 10 books, and he/she can choose five from that list.

2 comments:

We're doing all right with our challenge. It's our habit for our boys to read out loud to us at night, and although we've been a bit lax this summer (they read a lot during the day anyway), we're getting back into the school routine and that includes reading at night!

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